Tuesday, 30 September 2014

An editorial published by the Chengdu Daily News is claiming that Doraemon, the popularfranchise based on the manga by duo Fujiko F. Fujio, and the recent exhibitions in China that showcase it, are merely attempts by Japan to subvert Chinese culture.

In the editorial, the writer says that the exhibitions have a "sinister hidden meaning," and that the show's themes of respect and friendship are hypocritical, in regards to Japan's actions. The writer even claims that the cartoon is a smokescreen to distract from the actions of the Abe administration.

However, reactions amongst Chinese readers have been mixed, at best, with some calling the writer out for maligning a popular childhood icon.

Relations between China and Japan are increasingly strained as of late, with escalating tensions arising from long-time territorial disputes over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands and increased military presence in the East China Sea, and condemnations of actions by the Abe administration that have been seen as insensitive by the Chinese.

Back-On and May J. currently perform the opening and ending themes ("STRIKE BACK" and "Kokoro no Kagi" (Heart's Key), respectively) for the show. Crunchyroll and Funimation are streaming the anime as it airs in Japan.

The first part premiered on Tokyo MX on Monday and the second part will premiere on Tuesday. Both parts will stream on BandaiChannel for free from October 1 through October 8, and then ship on Blu-ray in Japan on November 21 along with a English subtitles, a drama CD, special booklet, and smart phone game code.

The special's website describes the story, which contains spoilers for the ending of the earlier television series:

[Highlight white text to read spoilers]

Aoba, along with Dio, set free Hina from the chains of fate and chose to live in a new future. Around this time in Zogilia, a mysterious man who harbors hatred for Aoba secretly begins to make his move ….

The new anime will feature the main cast and staff from the television series.

The actressMaggie Stableswho had played the Sixth Doctor companionEvelyn Smythein the Big Finish audios, has died after a long illness.Maggie Stables turned to acting as a second career after taking early retirement from her post as a French teacher.After some experience in musical theatre, in 1991 she acted in a production of Jane Eyre with Nicholas Briggs. This led to Briggs later casting Stables as Ruthley in Big Finish's first Doctor Who play The Sirens of Time, and as Evelyn the following year.She played the character in twenty Big Finish productions.Nicholas Briggs paid tribute to the actress on theBig Finish Website.

I was keen to get her involved in the Big Finish audios, casting her as the gruff Ruthley in our very first Doctor Who release, The Sirens of Time. It wasn't long before my friend and producer Gary Russell spotted her and saw her as potential 'companion' material. Evelyn Smythe made Doctor Who history. The first, dare I say it, 'elderly' companion of the Doctor's. Maggie was superb in the role and she and her Doctor, Colin Baker, immediately hit it off. And even though Maggie appeared in two 'final' adventures for Evelyn, it was always our intention to continue working with her -- such is the advantage of time travel. I was very pleased to welcome her back for another trilogy in 2011.

Maggie was such a lovely, warm person who did a fantastic job of playing Evelyn. She was extremely popular with our listeners and always a delight to work with. I have many fond and sometimes raucous memories of working with her in Doctor Who and on stage.

I shall always be grateful for the support and affection she gave to me and for all the laughs we shared along the way.'

Sixth DoctorColin Bakeralso paid tribute to the actress

Devastated to hear about dear Maggie Stables. Lovely, generous, kind, wise lady and her Evelyn was the definitive companion for old Sixie

Maggie staples died in her sleep on Friday night, the 26th of September.

Doctor WhoThe Caretakerhad an Audience Appreciation Index or AI score of83.The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.Overall Doctor Who rated slightly higher with Women rather than Men and scored the highest within the 16-54 age group.The X Factoronce again topped the ratings for Sunday with 9.0 million viewers, whileDownton Abbeyhad 8.1 million watching. Doctor Who is currently in 24th place for the week. Final figures will be published next week.The Sunday repeat ofThe Caretakeron BBC Three had an overnight estimate of0.27 millionviewers, a1.2% shareof the audience.

Monday, 29 September 2014

This year's 44th issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sundaymagazine is announcing on Wednesday that Mai Kuraki will sing the theme song "Dynamite" for the two-hour anime special commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Detective Conanmanga. Meitantei Conan: Edogawa Conan Shissō Jiken ~Chijō Saiaku no Futsukakan~ (Detective Conan: The Disappearance of Conan Edogawa: The Worst Two Days in History) will premiere in December during YTV and NTV's Friday Road Show! slot.

Kuraki will release a best-of album to mark her 15th year as a professional singer on November 12. 10 of the album's 30 tracks are Detective Conan theme songs, including "Dynamite." Also as part of Detective Conan's 20th anniversary, the traveling art exhibition "Incident in Conan Exhibit" will run at Osaka's Hirakata Park from December 13 to January 12.

Kenji Uchida, the director of the critically acclaimed comedy filmKagi Dorobō no Method (Key of Life) and a Detective Conan fan, wrote the special's story about Conan losing his memories. Yasuichiro Yamamoto, the chief director of the Detective Conantelevision anime and the director of several previous movies and videos in the franchise, is helming this new special.

Text: "This is how you write mysteries!" ...Is what I felt I learned once again! —CreatorGosho AoyamaText: I hope that my love toward Conan reaches everyone watching. —ScriptwriterKenji UchidaText: 20th Anniversary of Conan's SerializationMan: Conan Edogawa, I will steal everything of yours.Conan: ...!? Oh no!!Text: Detective Conan: The Disappearance of Conan Edogawa: The Worst Two Days in HistoryRan: Conan! Let's go to the bath house together!Conan: The person we encountered at the bath house we went to was a legendary hitman.Text: Legendary Hitman Conan: Hey, what'd you hide away?Conan: There is an unbelievable plot being concealed.Conan: A powerful tag team with members from different dimensions is born!Text: Original Work - Gosho Aoyama, Scripts - Kenji Uchida. A tag team with members from different dimensions is born!Conan: Detective Conan and Kagi Dorobō no Method have a miraculous collaboration! A wonderful cast members continue to join the fray!Ran: Conan is-Ai: Missing!?Agasa: Where did he go!?Conan: The worst day in Conan's history is beginning!Mōri: It's finally my turn!Ai: This is bad! Conan!Text: Conan has amnesia!?Conan: An anime special celebrating 20 years of Detective Conan's manga serialization!Detective Conan: The Disappearance of Conan Edogawa: The Worst Two Days in HistoryConan: ...Who am I...?

The above extract comes from Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, which is released by Studio Canal on Monday as a DVD, a DVD/Blu-ray combi pack and a Collector's Edition. The story centers on Jirō Horikoshi, the designer of Japan's famed Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane of World War II. Miyazaki has announced that this will be his final film.

On Monday September 29, Studio Canal will release Studio Ghibli's The Wind Rises, directed by Hayao Miyazaki (who has said it will be his last feature film). The story centers on Jirō Horikoshi, played by Evangelion director Hideaki Anno), the designer of Japan's famed Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane of World War II. Studio Canal will release the film in three editions; as a DVD, as a DVD/Blu-ray combi pack and as a Collector's Edition (pictured) including five artcards.

The film is set in a near future, technology has firmly taken root into society at large. Cybernetic implants are nothing uncommon and robots roam as plentiful as humans, all connected through their ''ghosts'' to the electronic datastreams of the net. Major Motoko Kusanagi and the Public Security Section 9 find themselves in a constant battle with the newly created wave of technological terrorists and cyber-hackers. But things take a turn once Motoko gets involved in a certain case involving an extremely dangerous ''ghost'' hacker nicknamed the Puppeteer, as she dives deeper and deeper into the limitless reality of the net, to reach her own startling conclusions.

Manga will also release Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, on both Blu-ray and DVD.Production I.G's original science-fiction adventure anime begins in the distant future in the far reaches of the galaxy. The Human Galactic Alliance has been constantly fighting for its survival against a grotesque race of beings. During an intense battle, the young lieutenant Ledo (played by Kaito Ishikawa) and his humanoid mobile weapon Chamber are swallowed up into a distortion of time and space. Waking from his artificially induced hybernation, Ledo realizes that he has arrived on Earth, the long forgotten planet. On this planet that was completely flooded by the seas, people live in fleets of giant ships, salvaging relics from the seas' depths in order to survive.

The set includes the original 13-part TV series and two OVA episodes.

MVM is releasing the teen romantic comedyToradora! on Blu-ray and DVD. The American distributor, NIS America, described the story as follows: 'Ryūji Takasu is cursed with his father's threatening face and is labeled a "delinquent" because of it. Even though this makes it difficult for him to meet people, he is madly in love with Minorin, the one girl who does not flee from him in terror. Taiga Aisaka is a notorious hothead with the nickname "Palm-top Tiger." She also happens to be Minorin's best friend, and what's more, Taiga has a crush on Ryūji's closest friend. This unlikely duo strikes a tenuous agreement to assist one another in stealing the hearts of the ones they love. They will face many hurdles along the way, but perhaps true love is closer to them than they think.' The box set will include all 25 episodes and the OAV.

MVM will also release a DVD collected series edition of Bodacious Space Pirates, previously released in two volumes. (The Blu-ray collected edition was released a week earlier.) The 26-part series involves a spirited high school girl named Marika, who is told she has inherited a space pirate ship, and finds herself embarking on a new life as a pirate. The series is based onYuichi Sasamoto's Mini-Skirt Uchū Kaizoku(Mini-Skirt [Space] Pirates) space-opera novels. The anime version premiered in January 2012.

The actress Maggie Stables, who played 6th Doctor companion Evelyn Smythe in the Big Finish audios, passed away Friday night, after battling a long illness.

Big Finish Executive Producer Nick Briggs commented on her passing:

'I met Maggie many years ago when we worked together on a national theatre tour of Jane Eyre, in which Maggie superbly played the sinister role of Grace Poole. After that, Maggie was instrumental in getting me a job in the Theatre Royal Nottingham Thriller season, recommending me to the late producer, Colin McIntyre.'I was keen to get her involved in the Big Finish audios, casting her as the gruff Ruthley in our very first Doctor Who release, The Sirens of Time. It wasn't long before my friend and producer Gary Russell spotted her and saw her as potential 'companion' material. Evelyn Smythe made Doctor Who history. The first, dare I say it, 'elderly' companion of the Doctor's. Maggie was superb in the role and she and her Doctor, Colin Baker, immediately hit it off. And even though Maggie appeared in two 'final' adventures for Evelyn, it was always our intention to continue working with her -- such is the advantage of time travel. I was very pleased to welcome her back for another trilogy in 2011.'As a friend of Maggie's, I knew she had suffered and largely recovered from serious illness before that recording, but it was clear to me that she was still too poorly to continue with the rigours of studio work -- even though you would never have known from her great performance. Always the professional.'Maggie was such a lovely, warm person who did a fantastic job of playing Evelyn. She was extremely popular with our listeners and always a delight to work with. I have many fond and sometimes raucous memories of working with her in Doctor Who and on stage. Unfortunately, my favourite Maggie anecdotes are far too naughty to repeat here. Suffice it to say, she had a very saucy laugh and a twinkle in her eye. Some of my warmest memories of her involve her sometimes shockingly blunt use of a put-down aimed at me... but it was always followed by that infectious laugh of hers.'I shall always be grateful for the support and affection she gave to me and for all the laughs we shared along the way.'

She, in my opinion, was the best 6th Doctor companion. I loved her stories and she and Colin had amazing chemistry that he simply never got a chance for on-screen. She will be greatly missed.Our thoughts are with Maggie's family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time.

Sunday, 28 September 2014

Sonyannounced on Friday that it will close its PlayStation Home social service on the PS3 console in March. Service will end on March 31, 2015 in North America and Europe. The company will stop publishing new content for the service on November 12, but content will be downloadable for users in the U.S. and Canada until December 3.

The PlayStation Home social gaming community first launched on the PS3 console in 2008. The service had "tens of millions" of users around the world.

With Halloween just over a month away, and the premiere of the live-actionJigoku Sensei Nube TV adaptation set for October, Japanese website My Navi Woman polled its readers about their favorite yokai anime and manga series—series that feature Japanese folk monsters and other supernatural creatures.

Pokémon and lifestyle/clothing company BEAMS are collaborating to release an official 1:1 scale Pikachu, which is meant to replicate the electric rodent's appearance from the original Pokémon Red & Green games (released in the US as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue).

If he looks a little hefty, it's because he is. The overstuffed plush measures 0.4 m in height (~15.7"), and weighs 7 kg (~13.2 lb).

While this is certainly not the first "life-size" Pikachu plush to be made, it is a charming and purposeful throw-back to the original chubby 1996 character design. The designers made sure to reproduce his "slightly curved spine, straight ears, and short limbs."

This attention to detail will cost you, though. The plush is retailing for a whopping 17,000 yen (about US$155.60). It will be sold in limited quantities at BEAMS department stores, and online, with a November ship date.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is coming out on October 7, so to celebrate the release, the folks atFunimation are holding a battle of their own—the eternal fight over which furry critter reigns supreme: cats or dogs.

They're calling it "Waggin' Ball Z: Battle of Pets," and voting is simple. Simply Tweet or Instagram using the hashtag #DragonDogZ or #DragonCat Z, and let your voice be heard. The victor will be crowned on October 7.

The November issue of Kadokawa's COMPTIQAce magazine is annnouncing on Friday that writer Masaki Tsuzuki and artist Asuka Kanan are launching the Dog Days Suger manga in the next issue on October 25. The magazine teases that the manga's short stories will weave both light and serious elements.

Dog Days'', the third television anime season of the franchise, will premiere next January. It will be set two to three months after the second season during fall vacation. In the first anime, Princess Millhiore (Yui Horie) of the Biscotti Republic decides to summon a brave warrior from an alternate world to defend her country from the neighboring fiefdom of Galette. The "brave warrior" turns out to be a boy named Shinku (Mamoru Miyano) from modern-day Japan.

During a September 9 meeting, the city council of Cleveland, Texas did not act on a local minister's petition to remove 75 books he described as "demonic," including the Vampire Knight manga, from a library. Reverend Phillip Missick of the King of Saints Tabernacle Church had sent a petition last month to complain thatVampire Knight, Twilight, Blood Promise, and other books "perpetuate a theme of vampires in relationships with young teens" in Cleveland's Austin Memorial Library.

Missick also complained about "a demonic stuffed doll and a witch's hat" on the top shelf of the library's teen section — a reference to replicas of the Sorting Hat and the elf Dobby from the Harry Potter stories. Another complaint decried the dried roses placed on a table in the teen section.

Library Director Mary Merrell Cohn addressed Missick's complaints in a 123-page response that she presented to the city council on September 9: "After reading these books, which were merely fantasies, I personally did not have any desire to perform any immoral, dark or sinister acts. Of course, everyone has their own opinion after reading these books and others like them, but that is the point."

She also emphasized that dried roses are not occultic: "It is a way to preserve flowers. These roses have a special personal place in my heart, since my husband sent them to me for our anniversary when he had to attend a [Texas Municipal League] meeting."

Cohn received local support from San Antonio resident and horror writer Tim Miller and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hunt of Cleveland ISD JROTC, who noted that the Harry Potter series helped his three children learn "loyalty, honesty, friendship and value of family." He added, "I've worked too hard over the years defending my country and raising three great kids to stand by while this kind of action is propose."

This week happens to be Banned Book Week, the annual event to raise awareness against efforts to block or limit access to books worldwide. Cleveland Mayor Niki Coats decided to not formally recognize the event since the city was dealing with the petition also this week. He explained, "It is unfair that the Banned Book Week falls on this week."

Editor's Note: The following article contains spoilers for upcoming episodes of the One Piece anime.

The staff of the One Piece television anime series announced on Friday that Tohru Furuya (Mobile Suit Gundam's Amuro Ray, Sailor Moon's Tuxedo Mask) will play the adult version of Sabo in the show. The character will make his full debut in the next episode on September 28.One Piece manga creator Eiichiro Oda had teased in his comment in Monday's issue of Weekly Shonen Jump that he had listened to the audition tapes for the role. He commented on the announcement that "Sabo could only be Furuya-san."

The character had made his debut in the two-hour "One Piece "3D2Y" Ace no Shi wo Koete! Luffy Nakama to no Chikai" (One Piece '3D2Y' Overcome Ace's Death! The Oath With Luffy's Crewmates) special on August 30, although the role was not voiced. Oda had said that "a must-see surprise for fans is waiting" at the end of the special.

The staff also released a design for the character dressed as Luffy's disguised alter-ego "Lucy."

Junko Takeuchi (Naruto's titular character) had voiced the role for the child version of the character.

This year's 44th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump will unveil a new character for Bandai Namco Games' upcoming PlayStation Vita gameDigimonstory Cybersleuth on Monday. The new character, Kyōko Kuremi, is a cool and hard-boiled "beautiful detective." Her detective agency serves as the main character's base where they take requests.

The game's story will follow either a female or male protagonist, depending on the player's choice. When strange phenomena begin occurring, the protagonist becomes a "Cybersleuth," and searches for the truth behind the mysteries along with his or her Digimon and their other human allies, Arata Sanada and Nokia Shiromine.

The game will involve an active turn-based battle system featuring combo attacks using multiple Digimon along with unique specialty attacks. The main character will have the “Connect Jump” ability, a power he/she obtained during an accident which allows him/her to travel to and from the local server of the digital world. After diving into the network dungeon which normal users cannot access, the player is able to hack through dense security by collecting Digimon.

A representative from Bandai Namco Games Europe stated last month that the company might start considering localization if the online petition to release it reached 50,000 names. The petition has over 53 thousand names.

Back in 2010, LAWSON, a popular convenience store chain, ran a K-ON! campaign with five autographed replicas of Yui's guitar given away as the top prize. The campaign was so popular that LAWSON's website was knocked offline as fans overwhelmed the servers.

Will the fanbase still turn out for the autographed guitars? It doesn't look that way. Seller "fukudai_otoge" put one up for sale on Yahoo! Auctions on September 17 with a starting bid of 10,000 yen (about US$92). By the time the auction approached its end on Wednesday, 503 bids were placed with a top bid of 101,000 yen (US$927). It's a nice chunk of change, but a decided decrease from the 3,000,000 yen (US$36,000) tag that the same guitar sold for in 2011. Fukudai_otoge ended the auction early, but refused to send the guitar out to the top bidder after they tried to negotiate even lower prices.

Fukudai_otoge has since relisted the guitar, this time with a starting price of 700,000 yen (US$6,426). The auction is running until Sunday, but currently has zero bids.

Another set of K-ON autographed guitars, this time modeled after Azusa's signature instrument, were part of a separate LAWSON in 2011. One of the three guitars went up for auction in 2012 and eventually sold for 5,566,000 yen, or nearly US$69,900.

The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) issued a warning to RCTI, the local broadcaster of Crayon Shin-chan, on Monday, saying the program is "essentially pornography," and that the channel must censor the program or air it late at night.

Agatha Lily, a senior official at the commission, cited Shin-chan's exposed butt, Shin-chanspying on people's dates, and women wearing "sexy" clothes that expose cleavage as parts of the show that were deemed inappropriate for children.

The public relations board for RCTI responded, saying they did not see the problem and will continue to broadcast the show as they were.

Crayon Shin-chanreceived a similar warning from Japan's PTA in 2007 after conducting a survey where the show was #3 on the list of programs that parents do not want to show children. Nevertheless, it is one of the most popular animated shows airing in Japan and one of the most popular shows airing on Sunday in Indonesia, according to ratings research groups in their respective countries.

First there was Akira, then there was Ghost in the Shell! See this anime classic how it was intended to be viewed – on the big screen in glorious HD! 2029 – A female cybernetic government agent, Major Motoko Kusanagi, and the Internal Bureau of Investigations are hot on the trail of “The Puppet Master”, a mysterious and threatening computer virus capable of infiltrating human hosts.

Together, with her fellow agents from Section 9, they embark on a high-tech race against time to capture the omnipresent entity.

GHOST IN THE SHELL took the world by storm, exhibiting a new dimension of anime with unprecedented, mesmerising cinematic expression.

Veteran director Mamoru Oshii skilfully creates the ultimate anime experience in this futuristic masterpiece based on the ground-breaking comic book by Masamune Shirow.

A movie that questions human existence in the fast-paced world of the information age, this award-winning, cyber-tech thriller has established itself as one of the best-selling Japanese animation films of all time.